Seems that forgiveness, humiliation, anger, adultery, raising a family, handling the adulation and now blame of millions…well seems Tiger figured Buddhism could handle whatever love-sex-suffering-adultery-confusion that life could throw at his klesha-killing, time-tested tradition.

In Buddhist terms, Tiger has vowed to “bring all obstacles to the path.”

A deeply apologetic Tiger Woods today added to his lengthy litany of sins, regrets and promises of repentance that he needs to return to Buddhist traditions.

His mother taught him the traditions and moral philosophy but as an adult, he says, he drifted away. Now it’s time to return to finding balance and being centered again.

Buddhism, he said, teaches that “a craving for things outside ourselves” can only lead to “unhappiness and a pointless search for security. Woods said he needed to stop “following every impulse” and “learn restraint.”

Via the Christian Science Monitor:

But its power – or cheese factor, take your pick – didn’t come from the standard athlete’s apology and the wipe of a tear (which Woods didn’t do), but from the billionaire golfer attempting to give to the public, for better and worse, what they really wanted: a few glimpses into who he really is – including his arrogance, his concern for his family, and his decision to steer back toward the religion that shaped him as a person and athlete: Buddhism.

“Part of following this path is Buddhism,” he said, citing the religion practiced by more than 300 million people worldwide. “Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security, and it teaches me to stop following every impulse and learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.”

(Brit Hume will no doubt be disappointed. The Fox News personality urged Woods to embrace Christianity to overcome his problems.)

Linda
I like that he recommitted to Budhhism … especially in the wake of the news announcer stating that only Christianity could save him

Rick
Last I saw, Google had "Buddhism" as its third most searched topic today. I think for a couple of days there will be a backlash against one of the world's great religions, unfortunately.

Leslie ॐ
Backlash? Maybe people will discover buddhism, and that is a good thing.

elephantjournal.com
Dalai Lama is number one right now, according to my pa. Not sure what he was talking about, but think Google.

Morgan
Interesting topic, no matter what your perspective.
about an hour ago · · Report
Andrew Cord Friberg
Andrew Cord Friberg
I knew Elephant would be all over this. I thought about it as he was saying it.

Rick
Yep. Backlash. I think buddhists will be the focus of some verbal abuse by certain groups. I hope I'm wrong ….

Andrew
Golf is a very buddhist game. Its all played between here and here (the space between your ears) A quiet mind is essential to being a good golfer.

Greg
Maybe some intolerance will show up but more and more society is becoming pluralistic. The Interfaith dialogue between Buddhists and Catholics, for example, is vibrant and of good nature.

More and more I meet people who say I am a Buddhist Christian or a Christian Buddhist. Seems strange if one is not aware of the core teachings of each but if one is aware it makes perfect sense.

Thich Nhat Hahn's book Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers is a worthwhile read.

MaryBeth
this is great! and if i could add a little humor to this it would be that it's the year of the tiger, which is perfect for tiger's come back : )

George
Yes! Interfaith dialogue is becoming more widespread — makes good sense.

It will be interesting to see whether this is a sincere turnaround or just a very carefully constructed media campaign. Tiger has been so cold and calculating and controlling about everything in the past, I think we have to wait and see if this is what he really feels, or this is the best material his PR person could come up with. The whole thing was so carefully choreographed down to the last nose twitch, it's hard to tell so far.

The most convincing evidence of sincerity to me is that he has given up golf for awhile. That's a big sacrifice for someone of his ambition.

I do not care that Tiger went out and slayed some beave. He had such a controlled childhood and early adulthood. He probably did not get to sew his wild oats at a younger age. Honestly all I care about is him playing in the Masters in April. He doesn't owe me anything in regards to his personal life. Wilt Chamberlain supposedly slept with 10,000 women. Yes, it sucks he hurt his wife, but to me that has nothing to do with him making 55 foot clutch puts to win a US Open on a bum knee. All that being said, I want every person to have a balanced, happy life, free of addiction, so I think that a recommitment to meditation practice is a great thing for Tiger. Plus, it will only help his golf game.

One thing I would really like to say is the fact before purchasing more laptop or computer memory, consider the machine into which it will be installed. If your machine is definitely running Windows XP, for instance, the particular memory limit is 3.25GB. Adding over this would simply constitute just a waste. Make sure one’s motherboard can handle your upgrade quantity, as well. Great blog post.